Multi-service Provider Wireless Access Point

ABSTRACT

Novel tools and techniques that can provide wireless service for multiple service providers from a single, multi-service provider wireless access point. In an aspect, a multi-service provider wireless access point might communicate with a plurality of wireless devices, each associated with a different wireless carrier, and route communications from each device to the appropriate carrier (and/or, similarly, transmit communications from each carrier to the appropriate wireless device). In this way, for example, a single wireless access point could provide service to cellphones of subscribers of a number of different carriers. Such a wireless access point can provide enhanced efficiency and reduced cost, along with the ability to provide higher service for a number of wireless carriers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.Ser. No. 15/295,510 (the “'510 Application”), filed Oct. 17, 2016 byCharles Ivan Cook (attorney docket number 020370-001710US), entitled,“Multi-Service Provider Wireless Access Point,” which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/541,839 (the “'839 Application”)(now U.S. Pat. No. 9,497,800), filed Jul. 5, 2012 by Charles Ivan Cook(attorney docket no. 020370-001700US), entitled, “Multi-Service ProviderWireless Access Point.” The entire disclosures of which are incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to ° copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to wireless service providernetworks, and more particularly, to tools and techniques that enable asingle base station to serve subscribers of multiple service providers.

BACKGROUND

Wireless service providers employ access points (also known in the artas “base stations”) to provide wireless service to wireless subscriberdevices (such as cell phones, wireless PDAs, wireless tablet computers,wireless modems, and the like). The location of such access points isoften constrained by geographic features, local regulation, and/or cost.To address some of these issues, multiple wireless service providerswill often collocate base stations, resulting in a single location (suchas a tower, building spire, etc.) having multiple antennas, radios, andother base station hardware.

This solution is inefficient because it results in a large degree ofhardware redundancy, but it is often unavoidable, for several reasons.For instance, most wireless providers are allocated a discrete frequencyband for their exclusive use, and a given wireless provider will employbase station hardware tuned specifically for that provider's allocatedspectrum. Additionally, each provider's base station maintains exclusiveconnectivity with that provider's network. Thus, while the concept of a“shared” access point that can serve multiple wireless providers couldprovide enhanced efficiencies, both in terms of cost and utilization oflimited space in prime locations, the realization of that concept isconstrained by significant technical hurdles.

One such hurdle is the disparities in radio frequency (“RF”)communications employed by different wireless providers to providecommunication between the access point and the subscribers' wirelessdevices. These disparities include different transmission frequencybands, different modulation schemes, and the like. Another hurdle is thedistribution of traffic between a shared access point and the networksof different wireless providers. Using conventional techniques, there isno way to distinguish the traffic of one wireless provider from another.These issues, and others, stand in the way of effective implementationof shared wireless access points.

Hence, there is a need for solutions that can overcome technical hurdlesto allow the provision of shared wireless access points.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A set of embodiments offers solutions that can provide wireless servicefor multiple service providers from a single, multi-service providerwireless access point. In an aspect, a multi-service provider wirelessaccess point might communicate with a plurality of wireless devices,each associated with a different wireless carrier, and routecommunications from each device to the appropriate carrier (and/or,similarly, transmit communications from each carrier to the appropriatewireless device). In this way, for example, a single wireless accesspoint could provide service to cellphones of subscribers of a number ofdifferent carriers. Such a wireless access point can provide enhancedefficiency and reduced cost, along with the ability to provide higherservice for a number of wireless carriers.

The tools provided by various embodiments include, without limitation,methods, systems, and/or software products. Merely by way of example, amethod might comprise one or more procedures, any or all of which areexecuted by a computer system. Correspondingly, an embodiment mightprovide a computer system configured with instructions to perform one ormore procedures in accordance with methods provided by various otherembodiments. Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set ofinstructions that are executable by a computer system (and/or aprocessor therein) to perform such operations. In many cases, suchsoftware programs are encoded on physical, tangible and/ornon-transitory computer readable media (such as, to name but a fewexamples, optical media, magnetic media, and/or the like).

Merely by way of example, a method of providing wireless service formultiple service providers from a single access point, in accordancewith one set of embodiments, might comprise providing a multi-serviceprovider wireless access point. The access point, in one aspect, mighthaving one or more radios to communicate with wireless devices and anuplink connection to a plurality of wireless service providers. Themethod might further comprise receiving, at the multi-service providerwireless access point, a communication from a wireless device.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises collecting, e.g., atthe multi-service provider wireless access point, an identifier of thewireless device from the communication, and/or identifying, from theidentifier of the wireless device, a wireless service provider servingthe wireless device. The method might further comprise receiving, at themulti-service provider wireless access point, one or more subsequentcommunications from the wireless device, and/or routing, from themulti-service provider wireless access point, the one or more subsequentcommunications to the identified wireless service provider, over theuplink connection.

A multi-service provider wireless access point in accordance withanother set of embodiments might comprise one or more radios tocommunicate with wireless devices and an uplink connection to aplurality of wireless service providers. The access point might furthercomprise a processor and a non-transitory machine readable medium havingencoded thereon a set of instructions executable by the processor toperform one or more operations, including without limitationinstructions to perform operations in accordance with methods providedby various embodiments.

Merely by way of example, in one embodiment, the set of instructionsmight comprise instructions to receive a communication from a wirelessdevice, and instructions to obtain, from the communication, anidentifier of the wireless device. The set of instructions might furtherinclude instructions to identify, from the identifier of the wirelessdevice, a wireless service provider serving the wireless device. In somecases, the set of instructions might comprise instructions to receiveone or more subsequent communications from the wireless device, and/orinstructions to route the one or more subsequent communications to theidentified wireless service provider, over the uplink connection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particularembodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions ofthe specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIGS. 1A-1C are a block diagrams illustrating systems for providingwireless services for multiple service providers through a single accesspoint, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method of providingwireless services for multiple service providers through a single accesspoint, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a generalized schematic diagram illustrating a computersystem, in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have beensummarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a fewexemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in theart to practice such embodiments. The described examples are providedfor illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present maybe practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances,certain structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. Severalembodiments are described herein, and while various features areascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that thefeatures described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporatedwith other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no singlefeature or features of any described embodiment should be consideredessential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments ofthe invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

A set of embodiments offers solutions that can provide wireless servicefor multiple service providers from a single, multi-service providerwireless access point. Thus, instead of requiring multiple access pointscollocated at the same location (or located near one another), certainembodiments can allow for the installation of a single access point,with substantial efficiencies in cost, space, and aesthetics, whilestill serving subscribers of multiple service providers. Someembodiments can support different wireless access technologies (codedivision multiple access (“CDMA”), Global System for Mobilecommunications (“GSM”), Long Term Evolution (“LTE”), etc.) and/ordifferent frequency bands (e.g., 700 MHz, 1800 MHz, etc.) employed bydifferent carriers using one or more radios in the access point. Someembodiments can support technologies, such as WiFi, developed for and/ordeployed in unlicensed spectrum; other embodiments might employcognitive radio technologies designed to share spectrum, such as “TVWhite Space” spectrum.

In another aspect, a multi-service provider wireless access point mightcommunicate with a plurality of wireless devices, each associated with adifferent wireless carrier. The access point might feature an uplinkconnection that provides connectivity with each of the wireless serviceproviders, and the access point might route communications from eachdevice over the uplink connection to the appropriate provider (and/or,similarly, transmit communications from each provider to the appropriatewireless device).

FIG. 1A illustrates a system 100 employing a multi-service providerwireless access point 105 in accordance with one set of embodiments. Themulti-service provider wireless access point 105 provides communicationbetween a wireless device 110 and one of a plurality of wireless serviceproviders (carriers) 115. As illustrated by FIG. 1A, the multi-serviceprovider wireless access point 105 comprises a processor 120, which canbe programmed with instructions to control the operation of themulti-service provider wireless access point 105, as described herein(including causing the multi-service provider wireless access point 105to operate in accordance with the methods described below). Themulti-service provider wireless access point 105 also comprises awireless radio 125 in communication with the processor 120 and anantenna 130. The radio 125 communicates with the wireless device 110,via the antenna 130 using wireless radio frequency (“RF”) signals.

An uplink interface 135 in communication with the processor 120 providesan uplink connection with the plurality of wireless service providers115, providing connectivity between the multi-service provider wirelessaccess point 105 and the providers 115 (and, ultimately, between thewireless device 110 and one of the providers 115, through themulti-service provider wireless access point 105). The uplink interface135, as can be appreciated, generally will be specific to the type ofuplink connection, and the interface 135 can include whatever hardwareand/or software are necessary or appropriate to support the uplinkconnection, such as an appropriate port, communication chipset, etc. Avariety of different uplink connections are possible in accordance withdifferent embodiments. For instance, in some cases, the uplinkconnection can comprise an Ethernet connection and/or the like.Additionally and/or alternatively, the uplink connection might comprisean optical connection, such as a passive optical network (“PON”)circuit, a synchronous optical network (“SONET”) ring, and/or the like.Any type of digital access technology, including without limitationdigital subscriber line (“DSL”), Data Over Cable Service InterfaceSpecification (“DOCSIS”), etc., can be used to provide the uplinkconnection, provided the digital access technology has sufficientperformance functionality to support the traffic passing through theaccess point 105.

The uplink connection, in an aspect, might provide connectivity betweenthe multi-service provider wireless access point 105 and atelecommunication provider's core network, which in turn providesconnectivity to each of the wireless service providers 115 (e.g.,through peering relationships, the Internet, etc.). Thetelecommunication provider might be, but need not necessarily be, one ofthe wireless service providers 115. Alternatively and/or additionally,if a wireless service provider 115 has a relationship with a wirelineservice provider operating the access point 105, it is possible that thewireless service provider 115 could have the access point 105 direct theconnection to the wireline or other service provider to perform callprocessing on behalf of the wireless service provider 115 that actuallyserves the subscriber. Similarly, if one wireless service provider 115 ahas a relationship with a second wireless service provider 115 b , suchthat the second service provider 115 b has access to necessaryauthentication information, the second service 115 b provider couldassume the responsibility of call processing of the original serviceprovider 115 a in the case of an emergency by securely informing themultiservice access point via an update to a provider identificationdatabase (described below) to route the calls to the second serviceprovider 115 b . Alternatively and/or additionally, a single serviceprovider 115 could use a similar database update technique to routecalls from the access point 105 to an alternate mobile switching center(“MSC”) for load balancing or other reasons.

The multi-service provider wireless access point 105 might also includea computer readable storage medium 140, such as a hard drive, solidstate memory, firmware, etc. This medium can store instructions forprogramming the processor 120 to cause the multi-service providerwireless access point 105 to operate as described herein. The medium 140might also have stored thereon one or more databases (or other datastores) as described in further detail below. (Such databases/datastores can also be located in other locations, so long as they areaccessible—e.g., via the uplink connection—to the multi-service providerwireless access point 105).

Various embodiments can support a number of different radio and antennaarrangements. Merely by way of example, FIG. 1A illustrates amulti-service provider wireless access point 105 with a single radio 125and a single antenna 130. In other embodiments, as illustrated by FIG.1B, a multi-service provider wireless access point 105 might comprise asingle radio 125 in communication with a plurality of antennas. Infurther embodiments, as illustrated by FIG. 1C. a multi-service providerwireless access point might comprise a plurality of radios 125, each ofwhich is in communication with one (or more) of a plurality of antennas130. In an aspect, the use of multiple antennas 130 can enable efficienttransmission and reception over a wide range of radio spectrum. Incertain embodiments, for example, the processor 120 is programmed tomanage which antenna or antennas 130 is used at any given instant oftime, either directly or through a switching mechanism.

These different arrangements (as illustrated in non-limiting fashion byFIGS. 1A-1C) can support a number of different configurations that allowthe multi-service provider wireless access point 105 to provide wirelessservice to subscribers of multiple providers 115. Merely by way ofexample, in the embodiment illustrated by FIG. 1C, each radio 125 mighttransmit/receive on a frequency band that is allocated to one or moreproviders 115. For instance, one radio 125 a might transmit and receiveon the 700/800 MHz band, which is allocated (e.g., by the FCC) to,and/or used by, a first provider 115 a . Another radio 125 b mighttransmit and receive on the 1800/1900 MHz band, which might be allocatedto, and/or used by, Provider B 115 b and Provider C 115 c . In otherembodiments, different radios 125 might support different modulationand/or access technologies; for example, one radio 125 might communicateusing CDMA, while another radio might communicate using GSM, and a thirdradio might communicate using LTE. Many such arrangements are possible,and embodiments are not limited to the use of licensed spectrum. In anexemplary aspect of some embodiments, unlike conventionally collocated,but separate, access points for different providers, all of the radiosare part of the same access point 105, are controlled by the sameprocessor 120 (or processors) and share an uplink interface 135.

In other configurations, such as those illustrated by Figs. lA and 1B, asingle radio 125 might communicate (i.e., transmit and/or receive) onmultiple frequency bands and/or for multiple providers 115. A number ofdifferent techniques can be used to provide this functionality. Merelyby way of example, in some embodiments, the radio 125 employs orthogonalfrequency-division multiple access (“OFDMA”) modulation to allow theradio 125 to transmit on multiple bands. In some cases, as illustratedby FIG. 1B, a single radio 125 might communicate through a plurality ofantennas 130, and the antennas 130 can be assigned to differentsub-bands, such that the radio 125 communicates on a particular sub-bandusing a particular antenna 130 or antennas. As described in furtherdetail below, the antenna(s) 130 for a particular sub-band might beselected to optimize the performance for that sub-band. Merely by way ofexample, the antennas 130 might have different lengths, and the lengthof a particular antenna might be tuned a portion of radio frequencyspectrum where it radiates and receives RF energy efficiently.

As noted above, different embodiments support a variety ofconfigurations. For example, some embodiments support multiple carriers(wireless service providers) on the same radio 125 assuming that thecarriers are using the same radio technology (e.g., LTE, WiMAX, etc.).In some such embodiments, this can be done using a base radio 125 thatis able to operate over a wide spectrum band and logic to match theappropriate antenna(s) 130 to the radio 125 at the time they are needed.Another set of embodiments, however, can employ a dynamic implementationof a software defined radio (“SDR”) as the radio 125. Multiple instancesof an SDR can be run by a processor (e.g., the processor 120), and theprocessor can match the appropriate modulated signal to the appropriateantenna. So Provider A 115 a could communicate with its subscribers overLTE using spectrum Aa and Provider B 115 b could transmit/receive overWiMAX using spectrum Bb. The processor 120, then, could executeinstances of the SDR and map the appropriate antennas 130 to serviceboth providers. The number of SDRs that could be supported might dependon the number of processors and/or the speed of those processors.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of providing wireless service formultiple service providers from a single access point, in accordancewith one set of embodiments. While the techniques and procedures of themethod 200 are depicted and/or described in a certain order for purposesof illustration, it should be appreciated that certain procedures may bereordered and/or omitted within the scope of various embodiments.Moreover, while the method 200 can be implemented by (and, in somecases, are described below with respect to) the systems illustrated byFIGS. 1A-1C (or components thereof), these methods may also beimplemented using any suitable hardware implementation. Similarly, whilethose systems (and/or components thereof) can operate according to themethod 200 (e.g., by executing instructions embodied on a computerreadable medium), the systems can also operate according to other modesof operation and/or perform other suitable procedures.

The method 200 might comprise providing a multi-service providerwireless access point (block 205). The access point, in one aspect,might having one or more radios to communicate with wireless devices andan uplink connection to a plurality of wireless service providers.Providing an access point can comprise any of a variety of operations,such as installing the access point, providing power and/or networkconnectivity for the access point, communicating with the access point(e.g., via the uplink connection), and/or the like. Broadly stated, anyoperation related to the installation, setup, operation, and/ormaintenance of an access point can be considered providing the accesspoint.

As noted above, an access point radio in certain embodiments mightemploy OFDMA modulation. In some such embodiments, the method 200 mightcomprise mapping one or more OFDMA sub-bands to one or more antennas(block 210), such that when a sub-band is mapped to a particularantenna, the radio employs that antenna to communicate on that sub-band.A number of techniques can be used to map antennas to sub-bands. Merelyby way of example, in some cases, the method might include identifyingcertain antennas in an antenna array that provide enhanced communicationperformance for a particular sub-band, for example, based onsite-specific RF characteristics, antenna length (as compared to thesub-band frequency), etc. The antenna(s) identified as providingenhanced communication for a particular sub-band might then be mapped tothat sub-band.

In some embodiments, the radio(s) might be configured to transmit pilotsignals on particular bands in a round-robin basis, transmitting on oneband, then the next, etc., or according to some other algorithm that mayprovide priority to a particular wireless service provider in aparticular band. The radio can also listen for an access request from aclient radio (e.g., a wireless device). Once a request to access thenetwork is received, the multi-service provider access point can adjustits timing/algorithms so as to appropriately service the call. If onlyone wireless service provider is using the access point, all resourcescan be dedicated to that service provider. The algorithm can bedynamically adjusted based on a variety of parameters, including but notlimited to, the number of service providers sharing the access point,the number of client radios accessing the access point, contractedservice provider priorities, received signal strength, signal-to-noiseratio (“SNR”)/interference indicators, etc. In other words, the accesspoint is treated as a pooled resource among all the service providersthat are sharing it.

As illustrated, the method 200 further comprises receiving, at themulti-service provider wireless access point, a communication from awireless device (block 215). For instance, in an embodiment, thecommunication from a wireless device might comprise a conventionalwireless registration message. More broadly, the communication from thewireless device can be any communication that provides sufficientinformation for the multi-service provider wireless access point toidentify the device, as described further below. In some cases, thecommunication might be a response to an interrogating communication fromthe multi-service provider wireless access point itself.

In some embodiments, the method 200 further comprises collecting, e.g.,at the multi-service provider wireless access point, an identifier ofthe wireless device from the communication (block 220). The identifiercan comprise any data that can be used to identify the wireless device.Merely by way of example, the identifier might comprise the telephonenumber assigned to the wireless device. Alternatively, the identifiermight comprise the mobile identification number (“MIN”) of the wirelessdevice, the electronic serial number (“ESN”) of the wireless device, amedia access control (“MAC”) address, or any other identifier that issufficiently unique to permit identification of the wireless device.

The method 200 can further include, at block 225, identifying a wirelessservice provider serving the wireless device; after the wireless serviceprovider has been identified, the multi-service provider wireless accesspoint can register the wireless device with the wireless serviceprovider's network (block 230). A number of techniques can be used toidentify the wireless service provider. For example, in some cases, thecommunication from the wireless device might include informationidentifying the wireless service provider. In other cases, however, theservice provider can be identified, at least in part, based on theidentifier of the wireless device.

For example, some embodiments maintain a database that correlateswireless device identifiers (whether the mobile telephone number, theMIN, the ESN, or another identifier) with wireless service providers. Insome embodiments, the method 200 might comprise storing the database onthe multi-service provider wireless access point. In other embodimentsthe database might be stored at any other suitable location accessibleby the multi-service provider wireless access point. Hence, the databasemight be remote from the multi-service provider wireless access point,and/or the method 200 might comprise accessing the database over theuplink connection.

The database might be populated based on data provided by the wirelessservice providers themselves and/or by data obtained through othersources. Such databases might be replicated among a plurality ofmulti-service provider wireless access points. In one aspect, thedatabase might include a record for a plurality of wireless devices, andthe record might include a field that lists one or more wireless placeidentifiers for that wireless device and a field that contains theidentity of the wireless service provider that provides service for thatwireless device. The wireless device identifier field might be a keyfield in the database, such that the wireless access point can accessthe database and search the database for a record containing theidentifier the wireless device; that record will include an identifierof the wireless service provider.

In some cases, the method comprises identifying a sub-band (e.g., anOFDMA sub-band) for communications between the access point and thewireless device (block 235). Any of a number of factors can be used toidentify a sub-band for communications between the multi-serviceprovider wireless access point and the wireless device. Merely by way ofexample, in some cases, the wireless device might only be capable ofcommunicating on a particular sub-band, which generally would be thesub-band on which the multi-service provider wireless access pointreceived the original communication from the wireless device, and thesub-band can be identified as the sub-band on which the originalcommunication was received.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the multi-service provider wirelessaccess point might identify the sub-band based on the frequency rangethat is allocated to the wireless service provider that serves thewireless device (which can be identified, e.g., as described above). Inthis way, for example, the multi-service provider wireless access pointcan select a sub-band that is appropriate for the wireless device andcorresponding provider. In such embodiments, identifying the sub-bandmight comprise accessing a database that correlates wireless serviceproviders with allocated frequency ranges. (This database might be thesame database the correlates wireless identifiers with wireless serviceproviders and/or might be a different database. As a general matter, thedatabase(s) described herein might be distributed, replicated, tiered,hierarchical, or organized/arranged in any other suitable manner.)

The method then might further comprise searching the database for arecord corresponding to the identified wireless service provider; thatrecord, then, would have a field identifying one or more frequencyranges allocated to that wireless service provider, and themulti-service provider wireless access point then could choose asub-band corresponding to that frequency range. (It should be noted, ofcourse, that in communications originating from the service provider,the identity of the service provider can be determined from suchcommunications, either implicitly, e.g., based on the source address ofthe communication packets, or explicitly, based on some identifierprovided with the communications.)

As noted above, the identified sub-band might be mapped to one or moreantennas of the access point, and the method 200 can further include, atblock 240, communicating with the wireless device using the antenna(s)mapped to the identified sub-band.

In some aspects, the method 200 might further comprise receiving, at themulti-service provider wireless access point, one or more subsequentcommunications from the wireless device (block 245), and/or routing,from the multi-service provider wireless access point, the one or moresubsequent communications to the identified wireless service provider(block 250), e.g., over the uplink connection. Merely by way of example,the uplink connection might comprise a packet data connection (e.g., anInternet Protocol (“IP”) connection. The multi-service provider wirelessaccess point, then, might packetize the communications received from thewireless device, address the packets to a network address correspondingto the identified wireless service provider, and transmit the packets(comprising the subsequent communications) over the uplink connection.Using standard routing techniques, those packets then would be routed tothe appropriate wireless service provider. By the same token, packetsreceived from the wireless service provider would be transmitted (e.g.,using the radio, the sub-band, and/or the antenna appropriate for thatwireless service provider and/or wireless device) for reception by thewireless device.

FIG. 3 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computersystem 300 that can perform the methods provided by various otherembodiments, as described herein, and/or can function as the processingsystem of a multi-service provider wireless access point. It should benoted that FIG. 3 is meant only to provide a generalized illustration ofvarious components, of which one or more (or none) of each may beutilized as appropriate. FIG. 3, therefore, broadly illustrates howindividual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separatedor relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 300 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 305 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 310, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, and/or the like); one or more input devices 315, which caninclude without limitation a mouse, a keyboard and/or the like; and oneor more output devices 320, which can include without limitation adisplay device, a printer and/or the like.

The computer system 300 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 325, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, solid-state storage device such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. Such storage devices may be configuredto implement any appropriate data stores, including without limitation,various file systems, database structures, and/or the like.

The computer system 300 might also include a communications subsystem330, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, a wirelesscommunication device and/or chipset (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, cellularcommunication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. The communicationssubsystem 330 may permit data to be exchanged with a network (such asthe network described below, to name one example), with other computersystems, and/or with any other devices described herein. In manyembodiments, the computer system 300 will further comprise a workingmemory 335, which can include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 300 also may comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 335, including anoperating system 340, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs 345, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed abovemight be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by acomputer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then,such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt ageneral purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be encoded and/or storedon a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as thestorage device(s) 325 described above. In some cases, the storage mediummight be incorporated within a computer system, such as the system 300.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system (i.e., a removable medium, such as a compact disc,etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storagemedium can be used to program, configure and/or adapt a general purposecomputer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructionsmight take the form of executable code, which is executable by thecomputer system 300 and/or might take the form of source and/orinstallable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on thecomputer system 300 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally availablecompilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities,etc.) then takes the form of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware (such as programmable logic controllers,field-programmable gate arrays, application-specific integratedcircuits, and/or the like) might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system (such as the computer system 300) to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. According to a setof embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 300 in response to processor 310executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 340 and/or other code, such asan application program 345) contained in the working memory 335. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 335 from anothercomputer readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)325. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 335 might cause theprocessor(s) 310 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operation in a specific fashion. In anembodiment implemented using the computer system 300, various computerreadable media might be involved in providing instructions/code toprocessor(s) 310 for execution and/or might be used to store and/orcarry such instructions/code (e.g., as signals). In manyimplementations, a computer readable medium is a non-transitory,physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take manyforms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media,and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example,optical and/or magnetic disks, such as the storage device(s) 325.Volatile media includes, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as theworking memory 335. Transmission media includes, without limitation,coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise the bus 305, as well as the various components of thecommunication subsystem 330 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 330 provides communication with other devices).Hence, transmission media can also take the form of waves (includingwithout limitation radio, acoustic and/or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 310for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 300. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 330 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 305 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 335, from which the processor(s) 305 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 335 may optionally be stored on a storage device 325 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 310.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to particular structural and/or functional components for easeof description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limitedto any particular structural and/or functional architecture but insteadcan be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in a particular order for ease of description,unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may bereordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments.Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or processmay be incorporated within other described methods or processes;likewise, system components described according to a particularstructural architecture and/or with respect to one system may beorganized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporatedwithin other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments aredescribed with—or without—certain features for ease of description andto illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to a particularembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing wireless service formultiple service providers from a single access point, the methodcomprising: providing a multi-service provider wireless access pointhaving one or more radios to communicate with wireless devices and anuplink interface to provide an uplink connection to a plurality ofwireless service providers, wherein the multi-service provider wirelessaccess point further comprises a plurality of antennas; receiving, atthe multi-service provider wireless access point, a communication from awireless device; identifying a wireless service provider serving thewireless device; communicating with the wireless device; receiving, atthe multi-service provider wireless access point, one or more subsequentcommunications from the wireless device; and routing, from themulti-service provider wireless access point, the one or more subsequentcommunications to the identified wireless service provider, over theuplink connection.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or moreradios comprise one or more software defined radios.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more radios consist of a single radio. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of wireless serviceproviders collectively communicate on a plurality of frequency bands,and wherein the single radio is configured to communicate on theplurality of frequency bands.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein thesingle radio employs orthogonal frequency-division multiple access(“OFDMA”) modulation.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:collecting, at the multi-service provider wireless access point, anidentifier of the wireless device from the communication.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein identifying a wireless service provider comprisesidentifying the wireless service provider based at least in part on theidentifier of the wireless device.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising identifying a sub-band as a frequency range that is allocatedto the identified wireless service provider.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein identifying the sub-band as a frequency range that is allocatedto the identified wireless service provider comprises: accessing adatabase correlating wireless service providers with allocated frequencyranges; and searching the database for a record corresponding to theidentified wireless service provider.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe one or more radios comprise a long term evolution (“LTE”) radio. 11.The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more radios comprise a WiFiradio.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a mobiletelephone number.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier isan electronic serial number (“ESN”).
 14. The method of claim 1, whereinthe identifier is an media access control (“MAC”) address.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the uplink connection comprises an Ethernetconnection.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink connectioncomprises a passive optical network (“PON”) circuit.
 17. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the uplink connection comprises a digital subscriberline (“DSL”) connection or a Data Over Cable Service InterfaceSpecification (“DOCSIS”) connection.
 18. The method of claim 1, whereinrouting one or more subsequent connections to the identified wirelessservice provider comprises: addressing the one or more subsequentconnections to a network address corresponding to the identifiedwireless service provider; and transmitting the one or more subsequentcommunications over the uplink connection.
 19. The method of claim 1,wherein identifying a wireless service provider comprises: accessing adatabase correlating wireless device identifiers with wireless serviceproviders; and searching the database for a record containing theidentifier of the wireless device.
 20. The method of claim 19, whereinthe database identifies a mobile switching center (“MSC”) of theidentified service provider, the method further comprising: updating thedatabase to identify a different MSC as serving the wireless device; androuting communications from the wireless device to the different MSC.21. The method of claim 20, wherein the identified wireless provider isa first wireless service provider, and wherein the different MSC isoperated by a second wireless service provider having a relationshipwith the first wireless service provider.
 22. The method of claim 19,further comprising: storing the database at the multi-service providerwireless access point.
 23. The method of claim 19, wherein the databaseis remote from the multi-service provider wireless access point.
 24. Themethod of claim 22, wherein accessing the database comprises accessingthe database over the uplink connection.
 25. The method of claim 1,further comprising: registering the wireless device with a wirelessnetwork operated by the wireless service provider, based on the receivedcommunication from the wireless device.
 26. A multi-service providerwireless access point, comprising: one or more radios to communicatewith wireless devices; an uplink interface to provide an uplinkconnection to a plurality of wireless service providers; a processor incommunication with the one or more radios and the uplink interface; anda non-transitory machine readable medium having encoded thereon a set ofinstructions executable by the processor to: receive a communicationfrom a wireless device; identify a wireless service provider serving thewireless device; communicate with the wireless device; receive one ormore subsequent communications from the wireless device; and route theone or more subsequent communications to the identified wireless serviceprovider, over the uplink connection.